Exploring Breakfasts Around the Globe Series - Part 1

A deep dive into what people eat for their breakfast around the globe

What magical wonders should we try today?

Whenever we travel, I find it interesting to head to my hotels breakfast buffet and peer into the stainless steel domes of possibility.

What wonders await us? A chocolate croissant for breakfast or perhaps a spicy beef curry with lashings of chilies to get the digestion moving along nicely? It doesn't take a genius to surmise that having a bowl of sugar puffs with icy cold cows milk is sniffed at by many other cultures.

Alas, the United Kingdom and Ireland shouldn't be so quick to judge (but you know we will, right?) at 'interesting' breakfast options. We consume pigs blood in the form of a black pudding, which is often added to a full English breakfast on a Sunday to soak up the alcohol from the previous night. It's a curiously, tasty mixture of (dried) pigs blood, oatmeal and fats. It's essentially a heart attack on a plate but needs must after 10+ pints.

After eating this, we all need a nap, right?

We now reside in sunny Australia. A place that is absolutely passionate about their breakfasts. Australian's queue outside cafes awaiting their daily opening time at 6am, much like I used to queue outside nightclubs at 12am in Scotland in the side-ways rain. I find this early practice fascinating and uniquely Australian. If I suggested to my mates in the UK to meet me at 5.50am for a coffee, they'd think I had finally lost the plot. But here, it's totally a thing. So, coffee is massive down under, possibly because everyone is up at 5am and a pick me up is seen as non-optional?

Another biggie down this way is the world famous avocado on toast. Not gonna lie - it is sensational. What a delightful concept. Chef, Bill Granger first put it on his menu in 1993 in Sydney and it's been on every café since then. But did you know, some history records suggest Aussie's were necking it back in 1929 in Brisbane?

An Aussie favourite

Another breakfast staple is Vegemite. I was gifted a jar of this peculiar substance by my Australian friend some years ago when I was under the weather. She told me to slither a tiny amount. The rule is, it must be spread on hot, buttered toast.

I was hesitant, like many before me. However, I did feel a little more healed thanks to the vitamin B content in the brown goo. When it was first produced many moons ago in 1923, it wasn't received well by the Aussie public. But the clever marketing people rebranded it as a health food in 1930 and it later became a source of national pride soon after. The success of Vegemite gives us all hope on how our fortunes can change with the right PR team behind you.

You have to try it at least once in your life. It's very comforting when you feel unwell.

I've yet to experience the thrill of Japan (it's on our travel wish-list) but I find their breakfast very well, Japanese. The people of Japan often enjoy a big breakfast of fish (typically salmon), miso soup (it's mostly soy beans, rice malt and veggies) and tofu to kick start their day. I'm not too sure if I want that amount of estrogen in my body every day from all the soy consumption but hey ho it works for the Japanese as apparently they hardly get menopausal symptoms. Which got me thinking, 42 years young with night sweats already kicking in, I'm thinking they might be onto something.

The Japanese love their breakfast to have variety!

Join me next time for another deep dive into what other cultures eat to kick start their day in Part 2 of my Exploring Breakfast series.